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Veteran NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold will head outside the International Space Station at approximately 8 a.m. EDT Thursday to begin a 6.5-hour spacewalk. Live coverage will be available on NASA Television and the agency’s website beginning at 6:30 a.m. During Thursday’s spacewalk, Feustel and Arnold will install wireless communications antennas on the …

68 Progress (68P) Undock: 68P successfully undocked from the Docking Compartment 1 (DC-1) port this morning at 8:50 AM CDT. This Progress vehicle will conduct Non-ISS free-flight experiments from April 3 to April 24. A series of burns scheduled for Thursday March 29 and April 2 will place the vehicle into the required orbit. The …

A Russian cargo craft departed the International Space Station this morning after completing a six-month stay at the Pirs docking compartment. Meanwhile, the Expedition 55 crew is less than a day away from beginning the fourth spacewalk this the year for orbital lab maintenance. Russia’s Progress 68 (68P) resupply ship flawlessly undocked from Pirs this …

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Preparations:  Today the crew continued preparing for US EVA #49 – Node 3 External Wireless Communications (EWC) installation, planned for Thursday March 29, 2018. They completed additional Airlock and Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) configuration and performed an EMU Water Tank and Liquid Cooling Ventilation Garment (LVCG) Water Fill.  Television Camera Interface Converter …

The Expedition 55 crew is ramping up for Thursday’s spacewalk and training for next week’s arrival of the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship. Just four days after moving into their new home NASA astronauts Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel are getting their suits and gear ready for a spacewalk on Thursday. The duo filled spacesuit tanks …

Lab Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Status: The Lab MCA 72 hour dryout completed period ended on Friday 23 March. This weekend, telemetry indicated that the water readings were too high to proceed with a successful activation and calibration. As of this morning, the water readings were no longer off-scale high; however they were too high …

Parker Solar Probe has completed its space environment testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and was lifted out of the thermal vacuum chamber on March 24, 2018, after just over two months inside.

Three new Expedition 55 crew members are beginning their first full workweek aboard the International Space Station. They and the rest of the crew are getting ready for a spacewalk on Thursday and next week’s arrival of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft. NASA astronauts Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel are preparing for a spacewalk just …

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Preparations:  Earlier today, the crew performed EVA tool configuration, completed training on use of the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER), reviewed EVA procedures, and had a conference with ground specialists.  These activities are all in support of the US EVA #49 – Node 3 External Wireless Communications (EWC) installation scheduled for …

Three new Expedition 55 crew members were welcomed aboard the International Space Station today. The hatches between the two spacecraft opened at 5:48 p.m. EDT, marking the arrival of Expedition 55 Flight Engineers Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold of NASA and cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos. The trio joined Scott Tingle of NASA, Commander Anton …